Also of Interest

Full-day kindergarten and School Improvement Grants

Under the School Improvement Grant (SIG) program, states have
the ability to competitively award funds from the federal
Department of Education to local school districts to improve the
lowest-performing schools. While past grantees incorporated early
learning into school turnaround efforts, SIG requirements did not
formally sanction using funds to support early learning efforts.
However, the new SIG requirements effective on March 11, 2015,
support early learning by formally allowing school districts to
implement early learning intervention models in elementary schools.
The new requirements stipulate that if an early learning
intervention model is adopted, it must include full-day
kindergarten, though the number of hours that constitute a full-day
program is not specified. A recent webinar from two Department of
Education-funded centers, the Center on Enhancing Early Learning
Outcomes and the Center on School Turnaround, discussed key
requirements of the model, including expanding full-day
kindergarten. Since the new SIG requirements have brought more
attention to full-day kindergarten, this Topic of Interest
highlights data sets, reports, and journal articles published since
2010 in the Research Connections collection on policies, student
enrollment, and child outcomes of full-day kindergarten in the
United States. (author abstract)